My Best Friends Girl
by foreverasianfusion
Summary: Mike and Artie talk for the first time after Tina and Mike get together.


_Just so you know, this takes place right after Audition. So Bartie? Didn't happen yet. _

_And Tina and Artie still haven't spoken. Ditto on Artie and Mike._

_Okay. Here goes :)_

**My Best Friends Girl**

Artie Abrams felt like the world was completely against him.

Everywhere he turned it seemed there were happy couples surrounding him from every angle. Whether it be a duo of freshman holding hands, or Finn and Rachel inappropriately making-out in the hallway, everyone seemed to be in love.

Everyone but him.

But, as he quickly rolled down the hall, he prayed to whatever deity is watching, happy that there was no Tina Cohen-Chang in sight.

Or so he thought.

As soon as he turned the corner towards his Algebra II class, he heard the familiar giggle he had grown to love. His eyes instantly scanned the hallway, and found Tina and her new boyfriend, Mike Chang, laughing and walking hand in hand to class.

_Just great _he thought, _rub it in even more, why don't you. _He quickly continued his journey down the hallway. As he approached the area of the hallway near the duo, who were now practically making out in front of Mr. Moore, he held his breath and sped up his rolling, hoping to not be noticed by the pair.

He thanked his lucky stars as Tina smiled and walked away from Mike towards her history class. _That could have been me. _He sighed and continued rolling down the hallway. He really hated how he had to roll himself to all his classes lately. He missed the good ol' days in which Tina would happily wheel him everywhere, and they would sneak occasional kisses before she departed for her next course. Smiling at the memories, he turned the final corner towards his classroom. However, a voice calling out his name halted him.

"Artie, wait up!"

_Crap. That's Mike! _Artie hurriedly pushed his wheelchair faster down the hallway, ignoring the Asian boys pleas for his attention.

Mike simply sped his pace as well, sprinting to meet Artie at the entrance to his math class.

"Man, you have wheels of fire!" Mike chuckle. "I've been calling your name for like three minutes now, dude!"

"Sorry. I have a bit on my mind right now." Artie replied coldly. _Like the fact that you stole my girlfriend! _He was tempted to add. But he didn't.

"Oh uh… yeah." Mike nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Anyway, I wanted to know if you maybe wanted to hang after school today? Brand new tv at my house, man. 50-inch flat screen! It's going to be epic!"

"Right. And why would I do this with you?" Artie snapped.

"Because we're friends, dude." Mike replied, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.

Artie rolled his eyes. "Friends don't steal their friends girls. Bro code man, you broke it."

Mike sighed as the bell rang. "Look, let me at least explain what happened to you. I really don't want you to hate me because you are actually a cool guy, Abrams."

Artie sighed. "Fine. You get one hour after school. And you have to drive."

"Great! See you then!" Mike hurried into his class, and Artie followed soon after.

_What did I just get myself into? _Artie thought to himself. _This is going to be a disaster._

Usually, school days went painfully slow for Artie. However, has fate would have it, that day class went extremely fast. Before he knew it, he was maneuvering himself into Mike Chang's surprisingly nice car.

"A Mustang, Mike? How did I not know you own a Mustang? This is dope, yo!"

Mike laughed and, after much struggling, managed to put Arties wheelchair in the back seat. "Well its relatively new. I've been saving up money for years now, and working at Asian Camp finally put me over the edge. Bought this sweet ride as soon as I got home. And Tina actually…. Never mind." He trailed off. Mike _was _going to mention how Tina helped him pick out the color. But he figured that could be considered boasting about dating Artie's ex, so he held his tongue.

Artie realized he was going to mention something about the girl he was still crazy for, and he wasn't thrilled with the prospect of having it rubbed in his face that Tina chose Mike. He debated on going into full Rachel Berry diva mode and flipping out, but he settled on looking down and softly sighing.

The car ride was extremely awkward for both parties involved.

Mike was trying to focus on the road, but he couldn't help but notice the tension in the car. Mike may be shy and sweet, but he isn't naive. He was perfectly aware of the jealous glances, murmured comments, and angered sighs Artie seemed to make whenever he and Tina were in a room together. It was particularly worse when Tina was with Mike himself. Its not like he _meant _to steal his girlfriend. And if Artie had seen the emotional mess Tina was at Asian Camp, he probably would have felt terrible about himself. Tina would carry her phone with her everywhere they went, constantly checking it to see if her boyfriend would call or text her. She had been away for three weeks, and by that time, Tina was a emotional wreck. Mike could remember countless times where he would be taking a late night stroll, and he would find her crying, sitting next to the lake, cursing at the stars for being a terrible girlfriend. She actually blamed _herself_ for Artie not caring enough to make the relationship work. And that honestly ticked him off. There were moments over the summer where he seriously considered driving back to Lima and kicking Artie Abrams. But, even in his anger, he realized that would not be such a smart idea. Instead, he would hold the crying girl in his arms, and tell her how amazing she was. Little did she know at the time, that these thoughts were things Mike thought about her every day. And slowly but surely, Tina started listening to him. Before he even knew what was happening, one day her lips were suddenly on his and he was kissing her back passionately, no longer holding back the want for her he had in his heart.

But he wasn't going to tell Artie all of this. He was pretty sure it would depress him even more.

Meanwhile, Artie thought the car ride was awkward for other reasons. As he leaned back in his chair, a familiar scent caught his attention. He nonchalantly took a deep sniff and recognized the smell instantly. Vanilla. Also known as Tina Cohen-Chang's favorite scent in the entire world. Tina must have been in that car fairly often, because the smell was rather overpowering. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but sometimes he would simply hold her and fully take in her scent. He just loved everything about her, whether it be the way she smelt, the way she blushed whenever he complimented her, the way she secretly loved Spongebob. Everything. But he lost all of that now, thanks to a stupid game and an even stupider self. Oh, and stupid abs. He let his gaze wander around the car. He saw typical things, a few discarded food wrappers, spare change, a bra, receipts, a—hold up. A _bra_? A black and red lacy bra. One he knows is Tina's. Not because he actually saw it or anything, because they never really got very far, but what other girl would own that kind of gothic, yet completely and utterly hot, bra.

Mike pulled into his driveway and turned to look at the teen. Following Artie's gaze, his eyes landed onto the offending garment. Blushing furiously, he quickly leaned over and threw the bra underneath his chair. "So… um.. want to go inside?"

Artie gave the jock a glare, but nodded slowly. Mike quickly took out his wheelchair and set it up. Artie maneuvered into it skillfully, and wheeled into Mikes house quickly. Thankfully, there were no stairs in sight. Mike pointed him towards the room with large television, and Artie quickly wheeled into the room, putting the brakes on his chair while remaining next to the couch.

Mike made his way into the kitchen and grabbed some snacks and drinks for the pair. Putting them onto the table, he awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets. "What do you want to do?"

"Halo, I guess man." Artie replied. Mike was tempted to remark about what a shock his chosen game was, but he held his tongue and simply nodded and started the game.

Handing his friend the controller, they both embarked on an epic halo battle.

After he beat Mike multiple times in the course of an hour, he started to notice Mike was a bit preoccupied with his phone to be fully engrossed in the game. "Come on, bro. Halo waits for no one!"

Mike looked up from his phone and frowned. "It can wait for a few seconds."

Artie finally put two and two together, and realized. He was texting _Tina._ "Oh.. okay."

Mike finished his text and paused the game, turning to face Artie. "Look, I realize you probably aren't my biggest fan right now."

"No, not really." Artie agreed. "You stole my girlfriend!"

"Actually, I really didn't. You lost her yourself, to be blunt." Mike calmly replied.

"I did not! You and your… your ABS took her away from me!" Artie responded angrily.

Mike really hadn't planned on saying what he said next. But it just slipped out. "Yes you did Artie. You wouldn't know because you never called her over the summer. Never texted her. You just sat and played Halo. Little did you know that Tina was crying herself to sleep every night, because she thought that you hated her. She thought she did something wrong. She was convinced that everything that happened between you two was her fault. And that she didn't deserve you, she didn't deserve to be happy because she was completely convinced that she had done everything wrong in the relationship. But the reality is, it was you Artie. You ignored her and put her through hell. And you didn't have to walk in on her that night, the night of your 9 month anniversary. Where she was lying in her bed, sobbing. Because she was absolutely certain her life was over because you never talked to her anymore. Her heart wasn't just broken, it was shattered."

Artie remained quiet and awkwardly looked at his hands, fidgeting nervously. He really hadn't realized that he had put Tina through so much. At that moment, after being lectured by his ex-girlfriends current beau, he realized how terrible he was to her. And how much pain he put her through. He finally realized that he had deserved everything.

"Look, man. I know me and Tina hooking up while you two were still together was completely wrong. But, I think in her mind, she really thought you two weren't together anymore. When you go almost two months without speaking to your girlfriend? That basically makes it sound like you want to end the relationship." Mike said calmly.

Artie nodded. "Yeah.. I think I realize that now. I.. really need to apologize to her."

Mike shrugged. "Do what you want. Although, to be honest, I doubt Tina really wants to talk to you right now. Things like that take a while to heal, you know?" His phone buzzed, again, and he looked down at his new message. Laughing slightly, he hurriedly answered it.

Watching Mike text Tina was an interesting experience to Artie. Mikes face legitimately lit up every time he got a new message. Artie hated to admit it, but it seemed as if Mike was completely hung up on Tina. And he was starting to get the vibes that Tina felt the exact same way about Mike. Sighing to himself, he pulled out his own phone and texted his dad, telling him to pick him up in 5 minutes.

Mike put down his phone with a smile, then turned towards his friend. "So, what now man? More Halo? Unless you want to…er… talk some more. But I should warn you, I may need you to bounce soon. I'm… um… expecting company."

"You can say Tina is coming over, I'm not going to be offended. But I actually have to leave soon anyways, my dad is on his way over." Artie quickly took off the breaks on his chair and rolled towards the front door.

Mike followed him out. "Oh, okay man." After a few moments of awkward silence, Arties dad honked from the front yard. Just as Mike opened the door, Tina's car pulled into the driveway. As she stepped out of the car, Artie quickly wheeled over to his dads car, sparing a slight wave at Tina.

Artie quickly maneuvered himself into the car, before quietly asking his dad to leave. He turned his head to watch Tina wrap her arms around Mike and give him a kiss hello. Sighing to himself, he turned to face forward and ignored the aching in his heart.

Tina pulled away from Mike and led him inside. "What was that about?"

Mike sat on the couch, pulling him with her, and got himself situated. "Nothing, just played some Halo." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Flipping on a romantic movie he knew she loved, he kissed her quickly before turning his attention to the movie.

"Oh. That must have been… fun." she nervously replied. "He didn't wheel over your toes or anything, did he?"

"Of course not babe." Mike laughed. "He was civil. And he seemed to be really sorry for what he did to you over the summer."

"Well he should be. But thankfully I'm better now." She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. "Thanks to you."

He kissed the top of her head and relaxed against the couch.

"Oh!" Mike said, nervously running his freehand through his hair, "Artie _may_ have found your bra in my car."

"What?"

**The End**

_I am super sick at the moment, at this plot bunny kept coming up in my mind so I finally wrote it. Hope you like it!_

_Xo Carolala_


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